Ever fancied doing a bit voluntary work and putting abit back into the community and wildlife?
I am a keen volunteer with a group called the "waterway recovery group" (wrg) and there is a vast number of regular volunteers getting drunk in the evenings and some of us well a lot of us are also into Landies and I am sure there might be a collection of them next weekend! :lol:
wrg go around mainly restoring canals ie rebuilding locks, putting in swing bridges, taking out old concrete bridges, using excavators and dumpers for some work, tree pruning, well cutting down trees so you can see the path the canal once took and loads of other things. Also once a year we run a National Waterways Festival which is the biggest voluntary run festival in England if not europe. But that is our back ground.
Next weekend is our annual BCN (Birmingham Canal Navigations) clean up weekend. What we do is we go to a different part of the BCN network each year and take along pointy hooks on a rope and see what we can get out of the canal which all the lovely locals which have thrown in. This year we will be near Dudley on the west side of Birmingham. We get all sorts out from mountain bikes, shopping trolleys, scafolding, motor bikes, 4x4 car chassis like last year, hull of a boat, type writers, computers, and of course a cuddly toy! Not very cuddly after being in the canal though!
You can come down for the day or both days if you wish. There is accomodation if you need it but you will need to book on with head office if that is the case.
It is stupidly cheap as lunch is £2 a head if I remember rightly and the whole weekend if your going to stay over is £10. That includes a full english on Sat and sunday, big dinner in the evening on Sat and lunch on both days as well. accomodation this time is a school and you just bring your camping beds etc to sleep on and have a whale of a time!
The web site is
www.wrg.org.ukWe do week long camps in the summer too and a few weks the rest of the year if you cant make next weekend (17th-19th March) and I will be leading 2 of the week long camps in the summer for the first time! It is a great atmosphere and you dont need to be into canals to enjoy it. It helps if you like drinking alcohol and there are plenty of regulars who have 4x4's and mainly ones with the green oval.
If you have any questions or want more info please just ask.
I know this sounds like a sales pitch and thats because it is really but the whole organisation is run by volunteers and it is a group I have a pasion about because I enjoy it so much and the people are brilliant. I have so many new close friends now.
